How do you name your characters?

[aqua03]

So one thing I've been having trouble with regarding Drachenseele is that I'm having trouble coming up with good names for the villains of the comic.

For the Dragoons, I've noticed that I had unintentionally given all six of them names related to the sky and weather that I just decided to roll with for the. (Flare, fubuki, zephyr, Selena, etc.) I feel I should have my villains also have a similar connecting theme to their names as well. Just one problem, I'm not sure what that theme should be.

I've had multiple different ideas:Shadow terms like chiaroscuro, tenebra, and stygian, playing card terms, earth and rock based names, destructive weather names, greek myth names, poisonous plant names, venomous animal names, etc and so forth, but I can't find one I like enough to stick with.

How do you come up with the names for you characters? Especially if you're gonna give a group of characters a naming theme like I plan to?

Thanks for the help.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

I use foreign (both modern and ancient) or traditional language to make fantasy name. Or use existing name or words and modify it (Google translate is my friend)
Because race and culture make a big deal in my series (although fictional), I try to make characters from same background has same "specific sound" to their names.

For character from existing cultures, I try to look for real people's name and add some changes. I do think I need realism to some degree instead of merely making it sound "Unique"

I don't give an obvious naming theme for characters unless they're named by the same person/following a theme in-universe, except it is meant to be pseudonym.

[BreakingChalk]

I play with their abilities/species words, then make names out of it:

Salamon Almond = A salamander with a name like Solomon that rhymes with almond

Chiclen Gumato = A guy whit bubblegum powers (Chicle is spanish for bubblegum)

Stephanie Cenerada = Stephanie is a common name, but Cenerada sounds like "Incinerada" (spanish for female "incinerated") and it fits with her fire powers

Stuff like that, others are just for fun like Seymon.

[thecrystalrook]

Sometimes I use actual names based on the character's heritage. Other times I take the George Lucas approach and make up "cool sounding" names

[MeltingCORE]

Ah, this is such a great question! Like some of the others, I use corruptions of real languages to name people, places, and things within my world. I mainly use corrupted German, Dutch, and Latin. The words tend to relate to hell-like things since the world my series takes place in is a technohell industrial empire. I also use some of my constructed language within the story which already has a similar tone to the harshness of German and Russian. (Parts of the language are actually based on Russian since it's a second language for me.)

[AmysGames]

Depends on my mood! Sometimes I like to come up with names appropriate for the character, sometimes I just spam the random button on Behind the Name until I find a name I like, and sometimes I just throw random syllables into the air and go "this sounds good."

[dewarcomics]

I look around the room and name a character whatever catches my eye. Or just based on stuff that first pops in my head. for when I actually have a theme though I keep it simple.

Based on your example of trading cards I would probably have like a group of four (Spades, Diamond, Clubs, Heart)

and would probably have started with: "Cards" then I would go like "Card...Deck, Decks? Dex??" A House of Cards....House. Royal Flush...Royal?

It would probably go something like that. Then If I came up with the names first I would see that I could make them Ranked based on their names. Card would be lowest, then House or Decks and then Royal who's the "King" of the group or something.

I just showed an example if I was thinking of names for a group of villains that I wanted to name them in a theme.

My advice? Don't rack your brain too hard. If you got a design already than look at them and name them whatever first pops in your head. But that's just me.

Good luck! (That was fun!)

[kingdomfilmsest2016]

I use baby name books lol

[aqua03]

Thanks! (Funnily enough, the villains group is named royal crimson conincidentzlly.)

I think I'll flesh out their designs, backstory, and powers first before deciding on names considering I like to have my characters' relate to them inskme way, shape, or form.

[kmlangleyauthor]

I have a lot of really normal names in my stories but, when I’m really struggling to find names, I’ll pop onto nameberry for their name generator and type in a couple names that might be similar ish to the “feel” of what I’m aiming for? Sometimes I’ll get lucky and find something that is perfect and sometimes nothing at all, but it might be helpful. If needed, some letter swaps or general spelling changes to make it fit better.

As villains go, unless they’re connected like your main group, I don’t think they need to have any connecting theme. I don’t know, that’s just my opinion.

[WillowTree]

I usually google 'most popular names in x' and 'x' is the year the character was born then choose from that list so I don't think I'm of much help here lol

[Pony_wearing_a_hat]

Well for my current novel I just picked some old fashioned sounding names that fit (it takes place in the present, but I liked the theme naming) but if I want names that mean something or that are from a specific culture I'll go here:

https://www.behindthename.com/

[dewarcomics]

could name them after the variations of the Colour Red. Just throwing that out there lol

[aqua03]

Been debating doing that as well, amusingly enough.

[Freemints30]

Yup, can't name so I just run that program with the specifications I want. Nothing to fancy

[KiabIce]

I'm not sure how I choose but it's sort of intuitive and just happens. Take names from what I've seen on TV or movies, etc.

[Dysis]

1.Spontaneous: I just write what comes to my mind spot on.

2. Word meanings: I see what my character represents, and then type on google "Names meaning..." and choose what I like most.

For instance: My profile picture has sunset, so I chose Dysis (which means Sunset) as a profile name.

3.Fantasy name generator: When all fails (:P)

[allenT]

My poorly educated village folks only have simple names.

2 of my main characters named from Chinese meaning (via sound-based conversion)
Maor : Mao Er 毛兒(Chinese meaning: fur child)
Amin : A Min 阿民 (Chinese meaning: ah- people)

Some of my characters have other Asian-related names.
Some characters use objects as names, some adds -er or -y at the end of their names.

I do give surnames to my characters but only those who associated to a clan, a race, or prestigious family.

[MoseyP]

My story takes place in the not too distant future in a man-made country that has a diverse population, so I try to ensure I have a wide variety of diverse names from different points in time (I assume there was probably a phase when old names became in vogue again).

To find these names, I usually just use Google, Baby Name Sites and other sites where I can find names. I have some instances where I have used names of people I've known/symbolic names but I try to limit those if I can.

[BlunderingAlbatross]

The culture in my novel is based off of IRL Nordic ones in terms of aesthetics and nomenclature so I spend far too long on websites like Behind the Name trying to find one that fits the character Other names, particularly for places, I'll just straight-up invent from portions of other words I see around me at the time.